Praying on Rosh Hashanah in 3 Easy Steps

Stand up. Sit down. Sing this part. Say that quietly. Bow down. Stand up again. Don’t talk. Don’t stay quiet. Turn to page 90.

It’s confusing and sometimes distressing trying to follow along with Jewish prayers, especially if it’s been a while. Rosh Hashanah has its own unique liturgy that even the most seasoned synagogue attendees may get thrown by.

Here is your guide to the themes of the Rosh Hashanah special Mussaf prayers.

What’s Mussaf?

On most days, there are three prayer services in the Jewish liturgy: Shacharit in the morning, Mincha in the afternoon, and Maariv in the evening. On Shabbat and holidays, Mussaf is added to the morning (the word translates from Hebrew to mean addition) and only on Yom Kippur, the prayer of Neilah is added between Mincha and Maariv. The arrangement of prayers follows the structure of sacrificial offerings in the Holy Temple before its destruction 2,000 years ago.

Every Shabbat or holiday has a Mussaf service that corresponds to the special offering(s) only brought on that day. Mussaf also acts as an opportunity to explore the special themes of the day — rest on Shabbat, holiness on holidays, and three special sections on Rosh Hashanah.

Let’s talk about those three.

1. Malchiyot / Kingship

God has many names, and one of the most prominent on Rosh Hashanah is the King of Kings. Obviously, you’re not going to run into kings nowadays as much as you used to, but this name identifies God as the ultimate authority, above all presidents, prime ministers, governors, and comptrollers who would look to wield their power. We read verses to this effect.

On a more personal level, recognizing God as the ruler above all involves acknowledging that His plan is the one we should be following. Rav Yerucham Levovitz, an important spiritual guide of the 20th century, gave an explanation: we may choose certain harmful decisions, but they usually don’t present themselves like that. We say to ourselves, this is something good that I want to do. Speaking badly about people, holding grudges, choosing money over morals — these are all decisions that are effectively like following a “foreign god.”

Rosh Hashanah gives us the chance to reset. By thinking of the world through the prism of God’s authority, we can reconsider our core values in life. It’s the perfect way to set the bar for the coming year.

2. Zichronot / Memories

If we just acknowledged God as a supreme being, as the one Who sees, hears, knows all, how could we possibly have a section of prayer called memories? Does God forget anything or need help remembering?

More accurately, what this section alludes to is the way God can see everything within a context. When we talk about reward and punishment or merits and demerits in the Jewish prism of thinking, the same action from different people will always be judged differently. Everybody has different challenges — different areas of life where they are more likely to struggle or excel than others.

In the Holy Temple, the large altar where sacrifices were brought had a ramp, not stairs. The idea there was that you can’t stand still on a ramp — you’re either moving forward or sliding back. Once we’ve framed our minds for the future in Malchiyot, we can look back on our actions and see if we were really making progress, or just slipping back.

We pray to God to give us a positive framing for our actions, but prayer, self-reflexive as it is, encourages us to find the framing, too. Look at the context of where you are in your journey and ask: was I doing the best I could at this point in my journey? Will I keep doing my best for my level this year?

3. Shofrot / Horns

The shofar is the horn we blow 100 times on each day of Rosh Hashanah, and it has great significance in the day. According to Maimonides, the shofar symbolizes a new beginning — it was blown at the giving of the Torah that began the Jewish nation and at the conquering of Jericho that began the Jewish ownership of the land of Israel.

We’ve thought about our deeds, past and future. We’ve understood them from the context of our own personal journeys. And now, it’s time to ask for a new beginning. Please God, we ask, remember that we’re only human, and we want to try to be better. People like to talk about the “Old Testament God of fire and brimstone,” but the God of the Torah and the Jewish people is not like that. He gave us the symbol of the shofar, and with it, our own opening to make a new beginning.

We have the tools to become better people. You can make use of them in your own private prayer or join in a larger collective seeking a return to their best living together. Look at the words and consider the historical resonance of all these themes.

Every year, Jews have been asking God to please give them another chance this year. You might think that at a certain point this would get repetitive — God knows all and would remember when they went through the routine the year before. But the truth is that more than action, Rosh Hashanah is all about intention. You’re not perfect — nobody is — but do you want to try to be? Do you have a plan to try to get as close as you can? What do you really want to get out of this year? The only person who can answer that is you.

Exercises

Here are 3 things you can do to prepare for prayer before Rosh Hashanah:

1. Take 10 minutes and write down as many core values as you think you have. Then cut the list down to 10. Then again to 5. Then again to 3. Then ask yourself, am I upholding these values every single day?
2. Look back in your memory and try to picture where you were on the last Rosh Hashanah. What were your hopes? Fears? Prayers? Then ask yourself, how much has changed, and is it for the better?
3. Look forward to the coming year. What do you want out of this year, both on a physical and a spiritual level? What are you going to do to get there?